Shanghai Railway Station and Shanghai South Railway Station will serve 6.65 million passengers during the Spring Festival transport peak from January 11 to February 19, the Shanghai railway authority said on Tuesday.

That's an 8 percent increase on this year, the authority said.

Tickets will go on sale on January 1 with each person limited to five tickets.

Passenger numbers are expected to peak on January 22 and 23, two days before the Chinese New Year's Eve, when the number of travelers will reach up to 220,000 each day.

A total of 465 ticket windows will be open throughout the city to deal with the anticipated crowds with 160 more windows than usual and 45 more than this year's Spring Festival.

There will also be 10 ticket windows especially for students.

Temporary ticket offices will be set up at the northern plaza of Shanghai South Railway Station, and the southern and northern plazas of Shanghai Railway Station.

The railway authority said trains from Shanghai to Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and provinces in northeastern and northwestern China will be in great demand, and passengers going to these destinations are being advised to purchase their tickets in advance.

After this yearís snowstorms and the havoc they caused, the authority said it had worked out emergency plans to ensure every traveler would get home for the country's most important festival.

(Shanghai Daily December 17, 2008)